RagingBull |
04-27-2012 09:37 PM |
Slackware 13.37 First Impressions
Good day Slackers!
I wanted to share my opinions on the most recent Slackware release 13.37 for others who may be considering installation of this great, and iconic distro. I haven't ran Slackware since version 12, and I must say that I am impressed with the my new install of 13.37. I hope by sharing my experience that I may relieve any doubts others may have about installing and trying the latest release of Slackware.
This was without a doubt the easiest installation that I have completed out of all the distro's I have ran (Redhat, SuSe, Slackware, YellowDog, Ubuntu). I didn't have to spend a lot of time trying to get my wireless card or networking in general to function like I have with other installs of slackware or other distro's. Installing flash, and dvd codecs was a breeze thanks to Alien Bob! What a relief! I really appreciate the straight forward installation, and the update method. It took me a matter of a few hours to install, add user accounts, setup permissions, update the system, and do some basic configuring.
Previous to installing Slackware 13.37 I was running Ubuntu. My decision to leave Ubuntu came with the introduction of Ubuntu 11.10 with the Unity desktop (I really don't care for Gnome 3 or Unity) that I upgraded to from the previous release. I certainly was not impressed with the new desktop environment, and I'm also tired of the cycling updates that Canonical releases that tend to cause major system problems from time to time. I suspect that is largely a result of developers having to adhere to strict update deadlines.
The thing that I love most about Slackware is the stability, and rock solid security. Those are qualities that most Slackers if not all appreciate most about the distro, and myself included. With the installation of 13.37 I can now also say that I really value the ease of setup and configuration. There really is a lot to be said for simplicity, and having control over every aspect of your system. I feel that having the lack of automated programs for updating, installing, and configuration really helps an administrator cut down on unintended problems from automatic updates and automatic dependency resolution. Additionally if something does go wrong the fix is usually easy and straight forward. It's easy to fix a problem when you know where the files are you need to edit or manipulate. That is something that I can't say for other distros that install based on preconfigured settings.
If your looking for a distro that is easy to install, is rock solid stable, and allows you to pilot the ship then look no further than the new Slackware release 13.37. It feels good to be a Slacker again!Thanks for listening to my rant.
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